Jade is a Juris Doctor candidate at Dedman School of Law. She was awarded a Maguire and Irby Family Foundation Public Service Fellowship for summer 2014 from the Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility at SMU to intern at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas. Her work will include both civil and criminal litigation work for the principal federal prosecution authority for North Texas.

On the range

During a recent trip hosted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”) to a Denton gun range, I got acquainted with an 80-year-old Thompson M1A1 (“Tommy Gun”) fully automatic submachine gun. It marked my first time holding a loaded weapon in my life.

The trip proved enlightening for two reasons: (1) it exposed me to the training ATF agents undergo to remain qualified; and (2) it underscored the importance of relationship-building with those agents. That day, I gained insight into the field agents’ work, firsthand.

The other interns and I had the opportunity to shoot AK-47s, pistols, an MP-5, an assault rifle and a shotgun. A picture, to prove it really did happen:

An introduction to an 80-year-old firearm, during a field trip hosted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Photo credit: Jade/SMU Adventures